Structural study of growth, orientation and defects characteristics in the functional microelectromechanical system material aluminium nitride

Journal Article · Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4905109· OSTI ID:22399211

Hrkac, Viktor; Schürmann, Ulrich; Kienle, Lorenz ^[1]; Kobler, Aaron; Kübel, Christian ^[2]; Marauska, Stephan; Wagner, Bernhard ^[3]; Petraru, Adrian; Kohlstedt, Hermann ^[4]; Kiran Chakravadhanula, Venkata Sai ^[5]; Duppel, Viola ^[6]; Lotsch, Bettina Valeska ^[7]

---

1. Synthesis and Real Structure, Institute for Materials Science CAU Kiel, Kaiserstr. 2, 24143 Kiel (Germany)
2. Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) and Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility (KNMF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - KIT, Hermann-von-Helmholtz Platz 1, D-76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen (Germany)
3. Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT, Fraunhoferstr. 1, D-25524 Itzehoe (Germany)
4. Institute of Electrical and Information Engineering, Nanoelectronic, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel Kaiserstraße 2, D-24143 Kiel (Germany)
5. Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU) for Electrochemical Energy Storage, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-89081 Ulm (Germany)
6. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstr. 1, D-70569 Stuttgart (Germany)
7. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Butenandtstr. 5-13, D-81377 Munich (Germany)

The real structure and morphology of piezoelectric aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films as essential components of magnetoelectric sensors are investigated via advanced transmission electron microscopy methods. State of the art electron diffraction techniques, including precession electron diffraction and automated crystal orientation mapping (ACOM), indicate a columnar growth of the AlN grains optimized for piezoelectric application with a (0 0 0 1) texture. Comparing ACOM with piezoresponse force microscopy measurements, a visual correlation of the structure and the piezoelectric properties is enabled. With a quantitative analysis of the ACOM measurements, a statistical evaluation of grain rotations is performed, indicating the presence of coincidence site lattices with Σ7, Σ13a, Σ13b, Σ25. Using a geometric phase analysis on high resolution micrographs, the occurrence of strain is detected almost exclusively at the grain boundaries. Moreover, high resolution imaging was applied for solving the atomic structure at stacking mismatch boundaries with a displacement vector of 1/2 〈1 0 -1 1〉. All real structural features can be interpreted via simulations based on crystallographic computing in terms of a supercell approach.

• OSTI ID: 22399211
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALUMINIUM NITRIDES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CORRELATIONS
CRYSTAL GROWTH
CRYSTALS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTRON DIFFRACTION
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MEMS
MORPHOLOGY
ORIENTATION
PHASE STUDIES
PIEZOELECTRICITY
STRAINS
TEXTURE
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY